Royal Navy
The Royal Navy was the primary armed force operated by The Royal Allegiance. Its role was to protect Allegiance planets, citizens, installations and territories from external threats, as well as to support expeditionary forces and carry them to their destinations and back. It was the largest and most powerful armed force in the Allegiance as well as the most expansive navy in the known galaxy. As the oldest of the armed forces it was known as the Senior Service. History Origins The Allegiance had operated space-faring vessels since the very first Forerunner technology was harnessed. History does not show when exactly the Royal Navy truly came into existence but it can be assumed it was around 19,000 BC, when the Allegiance was founded with its first monarch. Organised naval forces undoubtedly existed before this point and conglomerated to form what is easily recognised as an early predecessor of the Royal Navy. Reformation War (2417-2422) (coming soon) Human-Covenant War (2553-2559) (coming soon) Swarm War (2733-2878) (coming soon) Command and Organisation The head of the Royal Navy was the Lord High Admiral, a position which was held by the current Monarch since the earliest days of the Navy. Immediately below this post was the Admiralty Board, consisting of twenty elected Admirals from the 800 Sector Fleet commanders. The structure of the Navy was as follows: * 1 Battlegroup made up of 5-30 ships (numbered according to how many in Fleet, e.g Battlegroup 254) * 1 Taskforce Made up of 32 Battlegroups (named numerically in Greek letters e.g Taskforce Beta) * 1 Fleet made up of 20 Taskforces (named numerically according to how many in Sector fleet e.g 12th Fleet) (640 Battlegroups in a Fleet) * 1 Sector Fleet made up of 24 Fleets (e.g 5th Sector Fleet) (15,360 Battlegroups in a Sector Fleet) * Navy made up of 800 Sector Fleets (12,288,000 Battlegroups in the Navy) Navy Air Corps Vessels Operated The Royal Navy operated a large variety of vessel classes, which allowed a degree of flexibility and diversity within fleets. It also allowed individual ship classes to specialise for a certain role, allowing other ships to focus on different ones. Warship Classes *'Triton-class Heavy Destroyer' - A powerful, versatile destroyer class. It was excellent against the vast majority of warship classes, and weak against large numbers of starfighters, particularly bombers. The class had a rather small ground forces complement and single ship capacity. *'Apollo-class Frigate' - A small, fast warship class, capable of easily defeating smaller vessels and dealing with starfighter threats. Was vulnerable to larger warships, particularly destroyers, cruisers and carriers. The Apollo-class had a large onboard forces complement and starfighter capacity. *'Ares-class Battleship' - A large, powerful battleship with an impressive array of armaments. It was slow but had long range, also very effective against other warships. It was weak against bombers and the largest enemy warships such as battlecruisers and 'super'-class vessels. It had a large fighter and bomber complement but no ground forces at all. *'Artemis-class Patrol Ship' - A small, fast and maneuverable vessel designed to engage and destroy fighters and bombers. It was extremely capable in its task and packed a large punch for its diminutive size, being able to destroy larger ships such as frigates in small groups. It was vulnerable to most larger warships such as destroyers, cruisers and battleships. It had no fighter complement and only possessed a limited onboard troop count, mainly for defensive purposes. *'Athena-class Cruiser' - A large, extremely powerful cruiser class vessel, capable of taking down even the largest and most dangerous warships. Holding large amounts of ground troops and many starfighters, there was not much the Athena-class was vulnerable to. Notable exceptions include 'super'-class vessels such as a supercarrier, or massive amounts of bombers. *'Hera-class Carrier' - A large, potent warship capable of defeating most smaller vessels including some destroyer classes. Its main role was to carry large amounts of fighters into battle, forming an effective protective screen to defend allied ships. Its armament was more than sufficient to protect it from most vessels. Starfighter Classes *'AL-56 Flashfighter' - The Flashfighter was a small, fast and extremely agile fighter class. It was very well armed for its size though lacking completely in shielding and possessing very limited amounts of armour. They fared well against hostile starfighter classes and were capable of extended in-atmosphere operations with little loss of effectiveness. They were widespread throughout the Allegiance, and easily the most common ship in the Navy. *'AH-17 Raptor' - The Raptor was a potent anti-warship bomber class. It was extremely powerful, well-armed and well-protected by armour, though its speed and maneuverability suffered greatly as a result. It was quite capable of destroying the vast majority of warships provided they were protected from starfighters. Raptors normally fared extremely poorly against enemy fighters and interceptors due to their poor speed and agility. When used in conjunction with AL-56s or AL-61s, they are extremely effective as they can attack warships without harassment from hostile single ships. *'AL-61 Valiant Interceptor' - The Valiant was an extremely fast and agile fighter/interceptor introduced in response to the Swarm problem. Flashfighters fared well against enemy fighters but only on even terms, but the Swarm used mass tactics. The Valiant was basically the answer to the problem, a small, tremendously fast ship able to cut up Swarm fighters quickly, function alongside Flashfighters and assist them in battle, and be small and fast enough to never get hit. Their speed allowed them to avoid most fire offering them a higher chance of survival, but the ships were not protected by shielding and featured no armour at all. Individual Ships Hull Classification Symbols To distinguish between vessels of different class and to easily categorise ships, the Royal Navy operated a Hull Classification System denoting individual ship's type and function. The UNSC, for example, used a version based on the human ancient sea navy. The Allegiance did so too until it became apparent that such a system was obsolete and needed updating. As a result, a new system was formed, which bore a resemblance to other hull designation systems but was heavily updated. Corvettes and Light Craft (coming soon) Frigates In the Allegiance use of the word, a frigate was a small vessel designed to fulfill a support role to larger warships. Recorded usage of the term varied extensively, but it typically denoted a capital ship designed to serve in a skirmishing role to protect larger ships, or more generally, a ship designed to serve in some sort of support role. They were also capable of patrol missions, and could be long or short ranged. *FFG- Guided Missile Frigate. Unlike other navies the term was only applied when guided missiles were the primary armament of a frigate. *FFH- Heavy Frigate. They were generally used in an anti-armour capacity. This was filled better by destroyers and so they focused more on all-round firepower, including anti-aircraft. They generally had short operational ranges. They were more often relegated to defensive roles, leaving the offensive role to destroyer classes. *FFL- Light Frigate. Normally faster but less well armed than other classes. Used extensively for patrol and reconnaissance, or light skirmishes or raiding. They were also heavily employed in anti-pirate and anti-smuggler operations. They could scout out targets before the advance of a main force, they also generally had long operational ranges. *FFM- Multi-purpose Frigate. They were designed to fulfill all of the above roles. Having said that, they often performed each task less efficiently than their dedicated equivalents. A notable example was the Apollo-class Frigate. *FFS- Stealth Frigate. Often used for scouting, intelligence gathering, or tactical troop insertions, they possessed special countermeasures allowing them to slip past most defenses undetected. They were generally smaller, less well-armed, faster but much more expensive than any other frigate type. A major role was to deploy covert infantry to a planet without the enemy's knowledge, allowing for sabotage, paving the way for full-scale assaults. Allowing this, they generally possessed numerous HALO Pod Launchers. They were much less numerous than other frigate types. *FFAA- Anti-Aircraft Frigate. This classification was used to denote frigates whose primary or only armament focused on destroying starfighters, analogous to aircraft. The term was also applied to ships which served as point-defence platforms. They offered much-needed protection to larger ships, and in turn were constantly in need of support from more powerful vessels. They were largely used in a defensive capacity. *FFA- Artillery Frigate. The role of these vessels was to provide ultra-long range support during firefights and skirmishes. Generally they were fast and maneuverable but lacked any large amounts of armour. They had long operational ranges, powerful shielding and a small starfighter complement to protect themselves should they ever come under fire. Their primary weapons generally consisted of long-range Particle Cannons and no other armament, with perhaps a handful of point-defense guns for self-defense. Destroyers The standard definition of a destroyer within the Allegiance Navy was a fast, powerful vessel intended to inflict heavy damage on larger vessels. Often, these vessels were similar to small cruisers and could operate in flotillas or independently. Many classes were highly versatile and were capable of functioning as peacekeeping battleships in localized conflicts, as well as being escorts for larger vessels and offering heavy weapons protection to weaker ships such as frigates. *DDG- Guided Missile Destroyer. This classification was used only when a destroyer's primary armament was guided missiles. To quality as a destroyer it would have to be powerful as well, so only destroyers with large amounts of tactical nuclear warheads qualified as both having mainly guided missiles and being a destroyer. *DDE- Escort Destroyer. Used mainly for the escort of larger vessels, escort destroyers were faster than normal, although less resilient. They could mount a larger number of single ships and point defence guns as a result. Long range was usually necessary. *DDH- Heavy Destroyer. Vessels which had staggering offensive armaments, almost unparalleled shielding and armour. They normally sacrificed point-defence guns and all starfighter complements and troop capacity to afford this though. They generally suffered from poor speed and short range. Despite its official name, the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer does not fall under the DDH category. Although its shielding and armaments are to the levels of Heavy Destroyers, it retains its starfighter complement, troop capacity, speed and range, though at the detriment to its anti-starfighter armaments. *DD- Destroyer. Used to denote standard destroyers, equally fast and powerful. The Triton-class Heavy Destroyer fell under this classification. Carriers (coming soon) Cruisers (coming soon) Battleships (coming soon)